According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.

GAT_00:According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.

But those dang muslins just ran around killing everybody, don't you know? It was the monks who invented Algebra and introduced the concept of zero to europe, not those heathen savages who took over the holy land.

rynthetyn:GAT_00: According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.

But those dang muslins just ran around killing everybody, don't you know? It was the monks who invented Algebra and introduced the concept of zero to europe, not those heathen savages who took over the holy land.

I suppose I can understand, but I still think it's hilarious that the concept of zero scared the fark out of people and all knowledge of it was suppressed for years.

Ireland's Protestant minority, by contrast, denies that Patrick was a bishop or that he was sent by Rome. They depict him as anti-Roman Catholic and credit him with inventing a distinctly Celtic church, with its own homegrown symbols and practices. He is an Irish hero, not a Catholic one.

Outside Ireland, too, Patrick has been freely reinterpreted. Evangelical Protestants claim him as one of their own. After all, he read his Bible, and his faith came to him in visions.

Lsherm:Ireland's Protestant minority, by contrast, denies that Patrick was a bishop or that he was sent by Rome. They depict him as anti-Roman Catholic and credit him with inventing a distinctly Celtic church, with its own homegrown symbols and practices. He is an Irish hero, not a Catholic one.

Outside Ireland, too, Patrick has been freely reinterpreted. Evangelical Protestants claim him as one of their own. After all, he read his Bible, and his faith came to him in visions.

Protestants can be delusional.

You Catholics support a child molesting church and you call us delusional?

ArkAngel:Lsherm: Ireland's Protestant minority, by contrast, denies that Patrick was a bishop or that he was sent by Rome. They depict him as anti-Roman Catholic and credit him with inventing a distinctly Celtic church, with its own homegrown symbols and practices. He is an Irish hero, not a Catholic one.

Outside Ireland, too, Patrick has been freely reinterpreted. Evangelical Protestants claim him as one of their own. After all, he read his Bible, and his faith came to him in visions.

Protestants can be delusional.

You Catholics support a child molesting church and you call us delusional?

GAT_00:According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.

Lsherm:Ireland's Protestant minority, by contrast, denies that Patrick was a bishop or that he was sent by Rome. They depict him as anti-Roman Catholic and credit him with inventing a distinctly Celtic church, with its own homegrown symbols and practices. He is an Irish hero, not a Catholic one.

Outside Ireland, too, Patrick has been freely reinterpreted. Evangelical Protestants claim him as one of their own. After all, he read his Bible, and his faith came to him in visions.

According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.

Again with the reading comprehension problems? Note: "allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages." Arabic learning was new to Europe, albeit it included some Greek works.

GAT_00:rynthetyn: GAT_00: According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.

But those dang muslins just ran around killing everybody, don't you know? It was the monks who invented Algebra and introduced the concept of zero to europe, not those heathen savages who took over the holy land.

I suppose I can understand, but I still think it's hilarious that the concept of zero scared the fark out of people and all knowledge of it was suppressed for years.

Geez, If Pythagorus could be scared of beans then I can understand why people would be scared of zero.

Last night, Fox Family Channel aired its made-for-TV movie St. Patrick. Fox's Patrick is mostly drawn from the historical record, but the producers added one new storyline. The English parent church demands that Patrick collect its church taxes in Ireland. Patrick rebels and risks excommunication by the British bishop. The fearless colonist leads a tax revolt against the villainous English.

<i>Cahill's book, which could just as well be titledHow St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled. </i>

GeneralJim:GAT_00: According to Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, Paddy's influence extended far beyond his adopted land. Cahill's book, which could just as well be titled How St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled

This is ignoring the incredibly important role played by Arabic civilizations who were instrumental in returning educational texts back to Europe once the Dark Ages ended.Again with the reading comprehension problems? Note: "allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages." Arabic learning was new to Europe, albeit it included some Greek works.

The Arabic world is what kept many of the ancient texts that allowed western learning to survive the dark ages. For someone who accuses others of having a reading comprehension problem, you have a hard time yourself. Not to mention a weak understanding of history. There was a lot of ancient knowledge that actually had to be retranslated from Arabic back into western languages because the only thing that survived the dark ages was the Arabic translations. Not to mention all of the ancient texts that the Arabs saved and hung on to, and the fact that Spain and all of the knowledge there was saved from falling into darkness by the Moorish occupation. Spain was the one light in a very dark Europe.

Dark Ages is a misnomer, sure things weren't as good as in the Roman days, well for those who had been under Roman rule, but it wasn't like all learning and advancement stopped. Far from it. Sure a lot old learning was lost, but that didn't mean learning just stopped.

i don't know why, but i just had a small orgasm. i think it was the wrong kind. again.

Annie Hall

sendtodave:<i>Cahill's book, which could just as well be titledHow St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled. </i>

I was told that the Church caused the Dark Ages.

My Grandfather rode passenger in his mother's womb on a boat from Belfast. John Patrick liked to tip a bottle of whiskey and voice his opinion on the bead rattlers and their evil influences.

sendtodave:<i>Cahill's book, which could just as well be titledHow St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled. </i>

I was told that the Church caused the Dark Ages.

Nope. The Roman Empire fell for a lot of reasons but the Church isn't really one of them. The Byzantines held together really well and, at the time, were more resolutely Christian than the Western part of Europe. The Church really was the only organizing influence that spanned Europe at the time. They preserved more and advanced more knowledge than any secular source in the continent. Without the Church there wouldn't have even been the tradition of literacy that allowed them to study the works that Arab scholars preserved.

sendtodave:<i>Cahill's book, which could just as well be titledHow St. Patrick Saved Civilization, contends that Patrick's conversion of Ireland allowed Western learning to survive the Dark Ages. Ireland pacified and churchified as the rest of Europe crumbled. </i>

I was told that the Church caused the Dark Ages.

The Church didn't cause the Dark Ages (which is a term historians don't really like, anyway). Rome overstretched itself - the Western Empire, at least. In the east it survived in Byzantium until the fall of Constantinople in 1204.

Have a listen to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History episode, Thor's Angels. And even after the fall of Rome, it wasn't very long until they tried to get things going again under Charlemagne.

ArkAngel:Lsherm: Ireland's Protestant minority, by contrast, denies that Patrick was a bishop or that he was sent by Rome. They depict him as anti-Roman Catholic and credit him with inventing a distinctly Celtic church, with its own homegrown symbols and practices. He is an Irish hero, not a Catholic one.

Outside Ireland, too, Patrick has been freely reinterpreted. Evangelical Protestants claim him as one of their own. After all, he read his Bible, and his faith came to him in visions.

Protestants can be delusional.

You Catholics support a child molesting church and you call us delusional?